Book Daniel Allison

Please note: Daniel is currently travelling and is temporarily unavailable for bookings in Scotland.

Daniel Allison is a Scottish storyteller, musician and writer who has travelled throughout the world, spending extended periods of time in Nepalese monasteries, African villages, the Mexican desert and the Amazon jungle.

He has a rich international repertoire of stories that delight adults and children alike. Based on the edge of Roslin Glen in Midlothian, Daniel regularly travels across Scotland sharing his stories and music.

Creative Scotland have funded Daniel to give four tours to date, one of which involved walking two hundred miles coast-to-coast across the country, camping in the hills and stopping off at schools on route to give children an experience of an old-fashioned bardic storyteller.

In 2015 Daniel was awarded funding to visit every school in the Outer Hebrides on his ‘Treasures of the Earth’ tour. Daniel’s focus is on animal stories, hero quests and tales of magic, mystery and wonder, with a particular focus on the cultures of Scotland, Siberia, Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Amazonia.

It is always Daniel’s hope to awaken audiences to the sense that life on Earth is a wonderful, precious gift. He weaves stories together with music on a wide range of instruments including didgeridoo, frame drum, jaw harp, clay flute and djembe as well as with the haunting sounds of Mongolian overtone and throat singing.

As well as performing at private events throughout the year, Daniel is a regular on the festival circuit, having performed at events in Dubai, Turkey and Portugal as well as many festivals across the UK. As well as storytelling for children and adults, he offers therapeutic sound journeys for festival audiences as well as ambient and upbeat didgeridoo performances. His didgeridoo style is a unique, high-energy blend of traditional sounds, beat boxing and contemporary dance rhythms that has taken many an audience by storm. Daniel also specialises in teaching children about Buddhism, based on personal study and time spent living with Tibetan refugees in India. He offers workshops in which stories and simple meditation exercises introduce children to the subject in a light-hearted and experiential way. He also tells stories about the naturalist explorer John Muir and offers storytelling combined with therapeutic sound journeys for audiences with additional support needs, based on many years of experience working in this field.

Daniel offers storytelling and workshops for people of all ages and can arrange to be joined by his partner, the folk singer and musician Alice O’Keefe. Daniel is available to travel throughout Scotland and internationally.

‘You had the kids in the palm of your hand and it made a fitting end to Book Week. Liberton kids are not the easiest at times but they were very soon captivated by you. I loved the goriness of the stories and I thought the art of storytelling won over the Xbox generation with ease. I started off with my head in a textbook but in the end found myself listening to you.’ (Segar Rogers, Liberton High School)

‘The children sat utterly spellbound, hanging onto his every word and note.’ (The Oxford Times)

Related

TRACS (Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland SC043009) brings together the Traditional Music Forum (SC042867), the Scottish Storytelling Forum (SC020891) and the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland (SC045085). TRACS is based at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, which is a partnership project between the Storytelling Forum and The Church of Scotland (SC011353).